U.C. Berkeley Exonerated in Case on Anti-Semitism

By Grace Tsoi

Sept. 1, 2013

The U.S. Department of Education has dismissed a complaint alleging that the University of California, Berkeley, failed to prevent anti-Semitic harassment during campus protests against Israel’s policies toward Palestinians, U.C. Berkeley said last week.

Filed in July 2012, the complaint centered on an annual protest event known as Israeli Apartheid Week, hosted by a pro-Palestinian group, Students for Justice in Palestine. In addition to the protest, the complaint alleged several other anti-Semitic incidents on campus.

The Office for Civil Rights, an arm of the Department of Education, said in a letter that its investigation had found that the protest did not amount to harassment and that other incidents mentioned had not been reported to the university.

The plaintiffs were the lawyers for two Berkeley Jewish students who filed a legal suit against similar protests by the pro-Palestinian group in 2011. That suit was dismissed in December 2011 by a District Court ruling that said the protests were constitutionally protected speech.

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Start-up is planned for early next year. The enrollment fee has not been set yet. — PETER TEFFER